I must admit, I haven’t done a whole lot this week! I’ve been working on taxes. Ugh. My Mom arrives for a weeklong visit this morning, so I’m trying to finish it all up and remove these various piles of documents I have sitting around the house. My eyes have gone blurry, even if my photographs haven’t…

I did get a chance to play a little bit with adding background blur in post-processing apps this week. There are quite a few apps out there that add bokeh or blur effects. I have to admit, I’ve always thought adding bokeh blur after the fact to simulate depth of field can be kind of creepy. My eye has been trained to know what real depth of field should look like, and often the post-processed effects don’t match up with reality. Do you find the same?

With the depth of field limitations of the iPhone camera though, it’s nice to understand where I might be able to affect things, so I played around with the Bokeh Lens app, which I had downloaded free a couple of weeks ago. After trying it on a few images, I realized that in order to add this kind of blur in post-processing you need a situation where the distinction of sharp vs blurry would be obvious even in camera. A single object significantly in front of a distant background would work the best.

Enter this image, from a hike last Sunday. I love the “eyes” of the tree but realized my focus was off, with the sharpest thing being the tree behind the face tree. It’s a reminder that while the iPhone camera does not allow for a lot of depth of field, it does have SOME and you still need to get the focus in the right spot. In addition to focus, the contrast and relative isolation of that second tree kept pulling my eyes away from what I wanted as the focal point tree, the one in front.

Next step, blur the background in the Bokeh Lens app. The way this app works, you set the amount of blur you want, and the whole image is blurred that amount. You then mask off the area you want sharp, so I painted the mask on the foreground tree with the face. Not bad so far, huh?

After using any new app, I check the resolution using PhotoSize, to see if it saves full resolution files. You can’t tell just be looking at an iPhone or iPad screen whether it’s a high resolution image or not. Unfortunately, this app does not save full resolution or even medium resolution. It’s very low resolution, with no settings to change it. To get a decent resolution file for later use, I needed to blend the blurred image back with the original image to get an image. Blending the blurred image back with the original image gave some dreamy effects in the background, which I liked. I find the dreamlike quality of the background adds to the feeling of the forest watching you provided by the face in the tree. With a bit of color editing to add to the dreamy feel, here’s the final result:

The Watcher in the Forest

After doing all of this, I realized I could have saved myself a lot of this work if I had used my dSLR with a shallow depth of field to take the photograph. 🙂 But the end result, with that dream-like background, would have never have happened with shallow depth of field alone, so it turns out well I went through the processing. Not only that, I learned about when to apply bokeh blur and when not to, as well as learning I need to find a full resolution blur app! BlurFX is looking pretty good to me right now…

How about you? What post-processed Artistic Blur is working for you? Share it with us, by linking in below.

I’ve started playing with creating digital pieces in a new way – building the final image onto a separate background rather than creating the background as a texture added to the photograph. I’m finding the background to be a versatile element, which can be used again and again.

For my Paint Party Friday post this week, I thought I would share how easy it is to create a painterly background with mobile apps, along with a few of the pieces created from the background.

To start a background, you need some sort of images that is mostly blank but has some texture or variation. I have started looking for these types of simple images in my daily photography… brick, stone, concrete, bark. All would have interesting texture.

For this example, I started with a Kim Klassen texture, Felicity, copied over to my iPad from my computer:

My first step was to use the Glaze app, to make it more painterly AND to increase the resolution. I love that you can save higher resolution than the original out of this app!

The output still felt a bit digital to me, so I ran the image through the Artista Oil app to add some more variation. I like this app for all of its options, both in painting styles and variation of strokes, etc.

Finally, the blending. Starting with the Glaze output as the base, to give the highest resolution file, I blended the output from Artista Oil in Image Blender to get the final background below:

Now I have a nice, painterly background with high resolution (4096×4096) to use for future creating. So far, I’ve used this background for four different pieces.

First, the original piece the background was created for. This is one of those pieces I mentioned earlier in the week that I liked when I shared it but a couple of days later I didn’t like it anymore. What I was trying to create originally didn’t work out, but I discovered this whole background idea so it was worth the time invested!

Next came one of my recent favorites, called Vanishing:

The third piece was another attempt with some of the same elements as the first one. I like this one better:

And finally, this last one, entitled “The earth’s secrets are held within a seed,” is another recent favorite:

While the color is similar between these pieces, due to the starting background, you probably wouldn’t notice they were all built on the same background layer if I hadn’t told you. As you build up and blend the other layers, the background changes and shifts from where it started. I could also easily shift the color of this background, and create a whole new look for the next piece.

I’ve created a couple of different backgrounds now and will continue to create and use them. They are proving to be a versatile element that adds a new dimension to my creative process. That’s the power of playing around: In the process of creating what might turn out to be a mess, you discover new ways of doing things.

It’s always exciting when the first envelope arrives for the Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap, and this year’s first arrival is a gorgeous one! Jo from the UK has the honor of being the first arrival AND the first blog feature of the 2013 swap. Isn’t her envelope gorgeous?

I love the colors and textures, and the jauntily placed stamps. Thanks Jo, for brightening my day!

I know I will get the question: Do I have to decorate my envelope? And the answer is: Absolutely no, you don’t! It’s just a fun thing that some of the artists do, and I love to feature the gorgeous mail art I receive on the blog. It’s a fun lead up to the big swap event! Have you signed up for the swap yet? If not, there is still LOTS of time before the April 6 receipt deadline.

Surprisingly, I’ve pulled out my dSLR for TWO things in the last week. I’ve been so obsessed with mobile photography lately, this is a momentous event worthy of commemorating. Not only did I want to get a lovely image of Jo’s beautiful envelope, I’ve realized to get a good portrait of our new dog Zoey I need the dSLR too. She just moves too quickly! So the dSLR is not completely replaced by the iPhone, it’s just getting a nice rest as I learn the new medium of mobile photography.

Here’s my favorite photograph of our little portrait session over the weekend. Isn’t Zoey cute? She’s doing well and adjusting nicely to our home. We are lucky to have found her!

What is your philoshophy on sharing your work? Do you share ONLY your best images? Do you share only one image on a certain frequency? Or do you share multiple images, whenever inspiration strikes? Do you even have a philosophy you follow for sharing? Where did it come from?

I realized I DO have a philosophy for sharing my work yesterday, when discussing this with another photographer friend. He was talking about the idea of sharing ONLY your best work online, something that I’ve heard many times from different professional photographers. The idea is that you cull the images down to the best of the best and only share those.

There are things I agree with in this philosophy, namely the “culling” of the many to the few. I think one of our best learning opportunities is in the review and selection of our “best” photographs. Being able to distinguish them, and to be able to consciously say why, helps us to grow our vision. The next time we are out photographing we will bring the learning from the previous session’s review, helping us to create even better photographs. It’s a never-ending cycle that builds. I think of it as a spiral: Each time you come around the spiral to photograph again, you are in a slightly different, slightly better (higher) place on the spiral if you work hard to review and select your best.

In general I don’t follow the “share only the best” philosophy, though, and that’s because regular sharing has become part of my personal practice in a different way. It’s not about sharing for feedback or to grow an audience, it’s about a regular practice of creating and what I learn from it. This practice started long ago, while in Italy, when I was being badgered by a friend to update my blog. I didn’t want to write about daily life or activities, but I could get myself interested to share a favorite photograph each day and writing a little bit about it. Holy Moly, did that change everything! I learned about my photographic eye, and myself, in amazing ways. It became an essential part of my creative process. Over time, it became more and more about writing from the heart and choosing the right photograph to complement my words, than choosing the “best” photograph to share that day.

Recently, my daily creative practice has changed, but sharing is still a big part of it. Even though I write almost daily on the blog and this is an important part of my creative practice, my daily “goal” for creating has shifted to creating at least one new, edited image a day from my mobile work. Then I share. Sharing is the completion of the process; the check in the box that says I fulfilled my personal goal. In a way I’m doing sort of a 365 project, but with editing instead of photographing every day, and without strict adherence to the “365” part. Whether it’s photographing, or painting or writing every day, it’s all creating, anyway, regardless of what type it is. It’s all useful for learning and growing.

What I’m sharing every day this way is not necessarily my “best” work. I find it takes some time to tell what’s “best.” Sometimes I look back at the things I’ve shared and am horrified. I liked it, maybe even loved it, at the time, or I wouldn’t have shared it. The ones that are the “best” are the ones I love days, weeks, months later. Sometimes, I know that in the moment I’ve created it, that it’s one of my best. Other times, a “best” image has to grow on me. The history I build through creating and then sharing helps me to learn more about what’s “best,” while also providing a record of my development over time.

I don’t share everything I create, believe me. There is some stuff in the moment of creating I know is awful and leave it on the hard drive. I have lots of failed experiments. They serve their purpose, helping me learn what does NOT work. I also do cull significantly from my original photographs, to get to the images I use for my creations. I can’t imagine trying to creatively edit every photograph I take. Whew. I wouldn’t have the time, or the inspiration.

It was an interesting conversation, yesterday, as we discussed this topic. I was figuring it out on the fly, as I realized I had a different motivation for my sharing than he did. It reminded me that each of us will have different motivations in our art, and I can’t assume yours will be the same as mine. Each person can develop their own personal rules and philosophy for sharing, like anything else. Some may share for feedback, while others share for connection. For me, it’s primarily part of a daily creative practice that keeps me learning and growing.

Over the last few days I’ve had a sneaking suspicion. I’ve felt like there is more to this whole apologizing thing, at least for me, than meets the eye. That it is about more than fear of sharing or criticism. I’ve been journaling and am starting to sort out this “other” reason. These ideas I’m sharing with you today are fresh and not completely thought through, so bear with me. I’m hopeful sharing them here will bring commentary and insight from you all, which always helps me distill them to something clearer.

How many of us carry along these little sayings in our head: Don’t brag. Don’t toot your own horn. Don’t hog the spotlight. Be humble. Keep quiet about your accomplishments, the right people will know.

I do. Somewhere, somehow, these sayings have been etched deeply into my psyche. Add to that my introverted and shy nature, which naturally leads me to want to avoid any attention, and you have a recipe for one quiet person. But then you contrast that with my desire to create, my desire to share, my desire (dare I say it) to lead… and you get quite a bit of inner turmoil.

You get someone who wants to do something really well, with all her heart, and have other people see it and join in. Without her having to say anything.

Yeah, right.

I’ve learned that doesn’t happen. To grow anything, relationships online, a following for your art, a business, you have to get the word out there. You have to share your message with confidence and heart. You have be able to say, “Here I am, and I have something GOOD to share with you.” You have to willing to talk and talk and talk about the good stuff you are doing, so the message is heard. It’s called marketing.

All the while, the inner voice is quietly reprimanding, “Don’t brag. Don’t toot your own horn. Don’t hog the spotlight. Be humble. Keep quiet about your accomplishments, the right people will know.” But they don’t always know, do they? Sometimes you have to tell them.

Hence, the apologies. The apologies sometimes come along to quiet that inner voice, I’m thinking. When I’m talking about what I create and do and have to offer others, if I apologize, I can keep that voice at bay. Sort of. I still feel it, deep down. I know this, because when I get any sort of feedback that validates this voice, even if it’s as simple as one person marking my newsletter as spam, it’s deeply felt. The voice comes back with a vengeance, “See? I told you so! Stop talking about this stuff!”

*Sigh*

I’m sorting this out. It’s a bit new and raw right now, this realization of why I might be apologizing. But like all of the things I’ve sorted through in the past that led to some sort of personal growth, it has to start this way. It starts with an inkling; some sort of clue to follow. We’ll see where it leads next.